The prompt for today's post on Nine Muses Musing is "village" and what comes to mind for me are the many small neighborhoods in Victoria, each with its own special character. One of the most distinctive is Fernwood, a diverse community of students, young families, retired folk, and people who are struggling to gain a foothold in society. It's center is a corner dominated by the Belfry Theater housed in an old church beside an open square. Across the street are some century old buildings with store fronts and apartments above.
The buildings are funky but charming and many are gradually being renewed. This building was purchased by a community neighborhood association and converted to apartments for low income people. The bottom is a trendy cafe that's always busy with people of all ages and stages.
Fernwood village is a mixed bag. It has charm but also social problems. And of course it's the people who live there that create its character, perhaps even more than than its old fashioned houses. Fernwood has a compost demonstration area, community gardens, pocket markets, and two vibrant community associations.
The house that we're renovating is just a couple of blocks from Fernwood village. It's the one at the top of this photo. I've owned this house for 28 years and first moved in as a single mother with my five year old son. Just recently we rented the upstairs suite to a single mom with a five year old girl, who will be celebrating Christmas there and getting to know Fernwood Village. I live outside of town now and I really like my home but at Christmas time I long for the neighbourhood feel of Fernwood Village.You can see other takes on today's village prompt here.
And by the way, thank you Mosey for choosing my journey post from yesterday for a prize. I'm thrilled.
From what you wrote, I have a great image of this whole area. I can see why you would miss it sometimes! It is so nice to see an interesting neighborhood coming back to life in this way. Thank you for linking in!
ReplyDeleteLovely to see the old houses being restored and cared for. And, what a nice repeat of your own experience with the mom and her daughter. Parallels like this fascinate me.
ReplyDeleteLovely post today... Thank You !
ReplyDeletewe should all be so lucky to have a Fernwood Village in our life.
cheers, parsnip
The circle of life I suppose with the new mom and five year old. I love the colors in this village. Thanks for sharing the pictures and the stories.
ReplyDeleteI love the old building. Such a pleasure to live on a place like this!
ReplyDeleteThanks for playing along today.
joanna the village hums - positively hums - and i very like the circle that rudee sees of your life and your tenant's life and you're likely world's apart but somewhere in your blearning you must have left a door open for this lady and her baby to walk through. cool. so very cool. steven
ReplyDeleteI love how Victorian buildings look. So pretty.
ReplyDelete